The Oil Drum

Well, a German company is seeing a rosy future in wind power assisted shipping, essentially using a computer controlled kite as the sail. If you don't believe a shipping company won't cut its fuel bills by using such a system, then such a reaction just might explain why the Germans do so well selling real things in the world market.

Since you seem pretty main stream, here is a mainstream link -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13325827/site/newsweek/

You just may want to read their English information at http://www.skysails.info/index.php?L=1

Take particular note of their first paragraph -
'A simple fact: wind is cheaper than oil and the most cost-effective offshore energy source. Yet, despite its attractive saving potential, it is not presently being used by cargo ships - for a simple reason: so far no sailing system has met the requirements of commercial shipping.'

Of course, do notice some of the key features - computer controlled, navigation optimization, high technology fabrics, essentially bolt on to existing ships, basically no extra crew requirements, fairly low cost, with fuel savings estimated to be up to 33%.

I seem to remember reading about this a couple of years ago (in German), back when it is was more a concrete concept than a product. Just another German trait - good ideas are merely the start of the process of making money, not the end of it. As you can maybe guess, there is a real lack of German financial engineers doing world class financial engineering. In that, the U.S. is vastly ahead.

Considering the U.S. doesn't have much of a merchant fleet anymore anyways, your scorn is perhaps forgiveable as ignorance. As you can see from the links, the tanker won't cruise into port under 'sail' - it will just use the 'sail' for most of its journey - which can be even faster than if it simply used its engines. German engineering tends to be like that - increasing efficiency means that you have your choice of sober cost savings or more excitement - or a mixture of those two extremes. In this case, I am pretty sure that the shipowners will make the decision they find most profitable between fuel cost/turnaround time.

You know, checking out what other economies/societies are doing as they face a future of more expensive energy might give a broader view of the fact that technology is not an either/or tool. Ignorance is not a very profitable way of looking at things, if money is your interest. Money is certainly a German one.